FEBRUARY 17, 1997

... so it's goodbye Cesare

THE first victim of Alain Prost's takeover of Ligier is likely to be the team's 59-year-old sporting director Italian Cesare Fiorio. Fiorio and Prost worked together at Ferrari in 1990 but by September that year Alain was publicly attacking Fiorio for his lack of organizational ability. A struggle for power between the two men resulted in the firing of Fiorio in May 1991.

Ironically, Fiorio was replaced by Claudio Lombardi - his right-hand man for many years at Lancia - and Cesare had his revenge on Prost in October that year when Lombardi fired Alain after the Japanese GP.

Fiorio's role looks likely to be taken by Prost's mentor and sometime business partner Hugues de Chaunac. He is expected to watch the Ligier team in action this year and identify weaknesses.